Sources: Bibliographic data for sources cited may be found at the end of the
article. Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations are taken
from the NASB Updated Edition (1995).
Works by early church fathers are available online at
Christian Classics
Ethereal Library and
Early Christian
Writings.

Terminology: In order to emphasize the Hebraic and Jewish nature of Scripture and its central figure I use the terms Tanakh (Old Testament),
Torah (Law),
Besekh (New Testament), Yeshua (Jesus), and Messiah
(Christ).

A significant
area in which interpreters disagree about the Second Coming of
Yeshua (Jesus) concerns the thousand years or millennium in
Revelation Chapter Twenty. This subject has historically been such a
matter of discussion and debate that three "camps" have developed.
The key questions for all interpreters have to do with whether there
will be a millennium, how long the millennium will last, where the
millennium will occur, when the millennium will occur in relation to
other eschatological events, and what moral, social, and political
conditions will characterize the millennium. For some interpreters
this period is symbolic, for others historical; for others possibly
present and for others definitely future.

Chiliasm

During the second and
third three centuries chiliasm, based on the Greek word for "thousand"
(now called premillennialism), was the dominant viewpoint among the
church fathers. Chiliasm rested on two important pillars. First, the
Second Coming and the resurrection would not occur until six thousand
years of earth history had been completed. (See The Epistle of
Barnabas, 15; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5, 27:3; Julius
Africanus, Five Books of Chronography, 1; Commodianus,
Instructions, 80; Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, 7:14;
Hippolytus, On Daniel, 1:4.) This assumption was based on the
statement of 2 Peter 3:8, "But do not let this one fact escape your
notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and
a thousand years as one day."

Peter’s words are set
in the context of explaining the seeming delay of the Lord’s coming and
thus the patristic writers interpreted Peter’s words as meaning that
just as there were six days of creation so there would be a thousand
years for each creation day, and then the Day of the Lord would usher in
the seventh or Sabbath millennium. Buttressed by the application of
2 Peter 3:8 to history, the prophecy of a literal millennial reign of
Yeshua on the earth became the second pillar.

Resting on these
pillars the fathers believed they were living in the sixth millennium
and fully expected Yeshua to come back in their lifetime. Hippolytus and
Julius Africanus (both in the third century) asserted that the First
Advent of Yeshua completed 5500 years from Creation, but were not
perturbed with the thought that Messiah’s coming might not occur for a
few more centuries. Lactantius (early 4th century) noted that those who
studied chronologies had produced varying estimates of the number of
years since creation, but he didn’t think more than two hundred years
remained until the Lord’s coming (The Divine Institutes, 7:25).

The chiliast
viewpoint was advocated by Papias, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, Irenaeus,
Lactantius, Tertullian and the author of the Epistle of Barnabas.
Methodius, Bishop of Olympus, one of the principal opponents of Origen
at the beginning of the third century, upheld chiliasm in his
Symposion (Book 9, 1:5). In the second half of the fourth century,
the last of the church fathers to defend chiliasm was Apollinaris,
Bishop of Laodicea. His writings on this subject have been lost; but
Basil of Caesarea (Epistle 263:4), Epiphanius (Heresies, 70:36)
and Jerome (On Isaiah, 18) testify to his having been a chiliast.
Jerome also adds that many Christians of that time shared the same
belief; but after that, chiliasm found no outspoken champion among the
theologians of the Greek Church.

With very few
exceptions these church fathers interpreted the millennium as a future
1,000-year period of peace and prosperity, which begins after Yeshua
returns and establishes His Kingdom on the earth with His capitol in
Jerusalem. Justin Martyr (110-165) offers an example of the view of
these early church chiliasts on the millennial reign of Yeshua,

"But I and others,
who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there
will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem,
which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, (as) the prophets
Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare. …We have perceived, moreover,
that the expression, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,’ is
connected with this subject. And further, there was a certain man with
us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied,
by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our
Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter
the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all
men would likewise take place." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew,
80, 81)

Among the chiliasts
there was much speculation as to the nature of Messiah’s kingdom during
the millennium. Points of discussion included whether or not the earthly
Jerusalem would be rebuilt, whether Yeshua would reign from earthly
Jerusalem or the heavenly Jerusalem, whether the Jews would participate
in Messiah’s kingdom and whether the lifestyle would be prosperous and
pleasurable. Tertullian (145-220) favored Messiah’s reign headquartered
in the divinely built Jerusalem let down from heaven (Against Marcion,
Book 3, 25), but Justin Martyr favored the earthly rebuilt Jerusalem
being the seat of Messiah’s throne. Papias (A.D. 70-155) anticipated an
incredible reproductive ability of the new earth, saying,

"The days will come
in which vines shall grow, having each ten thousand branches, and in
each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand
shoots, and in every one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on
every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when
pressed will give five-and-twenty metretes of wine." (Exposition on
the Oracles of the Lord, 4)

Irenaeus (ca.
140-202) agreeing with Papias predicted the enjoyment of bountiful
harvests of grain and grape (Against Heresies, Book 5, 33). He
also took literally the prophecy of Isaiah 65:25 that promises a
harmonious relationship between animals and man and restoration of the
diet of Eden. However, Cerinthus, the first-century heretic, went a step
further and depicted a millennium of enjoying all the carnal pleasures
denied in this present life, for which he was appropriately and harshly
criticized (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3, 38).

Amillennialism

The next viewpoint to
develop on the millennium is called amillennialism, which originated, at
least as a fully articulated system, in the fourth century. In his
monumental treatise The City of God Augustine advocated a
symbolic interpretation of Revelation, ridiculed the "six-thousand-year"
view of history as "fanciful" and declared the Christian Church to be
the Kingdom of God on earth, replacing Israel in God's plans and
affections, and therefore the millennium corresponds to the present
church age (20:7).

For amillenarians the
thousand-year period in Revelation 20 became only a figurative term for
the period between the first and second advent of Yeshua. The binding of
Satan refers to Messiah’s victory over evil accomplished on the cross
and the "first resurrection" represents the creation of spiritual life
in the believer. Satan will be loosed for a brief time at the end of the
present church age, but the wicked will be destroyed at the Second
Coming symbolized by the fire from heaven in 20:9, which will be
followed by the general resurrection, great white throne judgment, the
new creation and the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom. Victorinus,
who wrote in the same century, accepted the amillenarian view of the
church age, but held to the six-thousand-year view of history (ad.
loc., 20:3).

The foundation for
the kingdom theology of amillennialism had actually been laid by
chiliasts in that theologians as early as Justin Martyr began engaging
in anti-Jewish rhetoric. For him and other church fathers Israel had
forfeited her covenant privileges by rejecting Yeshua as their Messiah
and those benefits had been transferred to the (mostly Gentile) Church.
The Church was the new Israel. If this was the case, then what happened
to ethnic Israel was no longer of any consequence in God’s plan and the
return of the Jews to their homeland was not even considered as
possible, let alone necessary. Condescending attitudes, inflammatory
rhetoric and prejudicial pronouncements against Jews, beginning early in
the second century, were used by the Church to justify and then enforce
institutional discrimination and even persecution of Jews. (See Marvin
Wilson, Our Father Abraham, Chapter Seven, for the sordid history
of anti-Judaism.)

Amillennialism
remained dominant for a thousand years and still has many advocates in
the modern era, although not all adherents necessarily subscribe to a
strictly spiritual interpretation of Revelation as advocated by the
church fathers. Amillenarians like Luther and Calvin followed the
historicist method of interpretation and some modern amillenarians may
take either the preterist or futurist approach to interpreting
Revelation (Gregg 459). The distinguishing belief of amillenarians is
that there is no literal thousand-year reign of Yeshua on the earth
before or after His Second Coming.

Premillennialism

Premillennialism has
its roots in chiliasm, and as such believes that Messiah’s second coming
occurs before the millennium. Many premillennialists take a mostly
literal approach, and expect a period of one thousand years of Messiah's
reign on the earth. At the end of this time, Satan's brief period of
freedom will put humanity to one final test before the final judgment.
Afterwards with all evil banished Messiah will commence his eternal
reign. In contrast there are also many premillenarians who do not take
the duration of the millennium literally, treating the term in
Revelation 20 as merely symbolic of a long period.

Postmillennialism

A variation of the
amillenarian position is the postmillenarian view, which holds that the
world will come under God’s rule either by worldwide revival and
evangelism or by instituting Christian ideals and values through
Christian government, or both. Once this societal change occurs then the
personal return of Yeshua will follow. Daniel Whitby (1638-1725) is
often credited with founding the postmillenarian school of thought
(Gregg 461) and many great evangelical leaders, such as Jonathan
Edwards, have ascribed to the view (Gregg 28).

Modern
postmillennialism has found a home in Christian Reconstructionism with
R.J. Rushdoony as its chief intellectual leader. Christian
Reconstruction teaches that God's Law will eventually be the norm in
most of the world as the influence of Christianity steadily grows. God
will send a spirit of repentance and revival to the world on a scale
never seen before and Yeshua will triumph over His enemies by the power
of His Word and His Spirit before coming to judge the world. They also
do not believe that the millennium will last exactly 1,000 years, but
that it will last for a long, but indefinite period of time.

While
postmillennialism is advocated by sincere Christians, its assumptions
are optimistic in the extreme and amount to wishful thinking. Like
amillennialism and the more spiritual form of premillennialism,
postmillennialism does not take Scriptural prophecy literally and
thereby fails to convince.

The Teaching of Scripture

This writer believes
in accepting the straightforward narrative of Revelation, which is
entirely consistent with Yeshua’ teaching of the future found in the
Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24). There are some good reasons for taking
literally the length of the millennium and its occurrence after the
Second Coming.

First, the reference
to a thousand years occurs six times in seven verses of Revelation 20.
Such repetition can only be a Divine insistence that attention be paid
to the words. There is no evidence that the term "thousand years" was a
colloquial expression in the first century for "a long time." The verses
cited by advocates to support the symbolic view (Ps 90:4; 2Pet 3:8)
actually treat "thousand years" in a literal sense; otherwise the
contrast loses its force.

Second, Revelation 20
is the only place in Scripture that speaks of an intermediate reign of
Yeshua lasting a thousand years on the earth. Although the apostolic
writings describe the future Kingdom of God
primarily as an eternal reign, Paul hints at an intermediate period of
reigning in 1 Corinthians 15:25f, "For He must reign until He has put
all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is
death." Paul’s prophecy supports the Revelation account of the
millennial reign by asserting that the Messiah’s reign occurs before the
eternal kingdom commences and continues until His enemies, including
death, have been completely conquered. Revelation speaks of death and
Hades being thrown into the lake of fire after the millennium reign
concludes (20:14). Thus, the intermediate reign is completed with the
abolition of death.

Third, in Revelation
22:5 the people of God reign with Yeshua forever, which reinforces the
necessity of taking the previous time reference of the millennial reign
literally. If "a thousand years" were symbolic of eternity, then how
long would "forever" be? The word "thousand" must mean a specific time
period for the narrative of an eternal kingdom to make any sense.

Fourth, in terms of
sequence of events the millennium follows the Second Coming and the
resurrection of the righteous as the Revelation narrative in chapter
nineteen and twenty makes abundantly clear. If there is no actual
millennium then there is no actual resurrection from the dead and the
other blessings God promised His faithful servants are likewise meaningless.

Finally, Scripture
demonstrates that the Lord has always planned in a specific manner. God
told Noah how long he would have to build the ark before the global
flood came (Gen 6:3). God told Abraham how long Israel would be in Egypt
(Gen 15:13). God told Israel how long they would be in captivity to
Babylon (Jer 25:11). God told Daniel how long it would be before Messiah
would come (Dan 9:24-25). All these predictions were literally
fulfilled. So, when God says that the righteous will reign with Yeshua on
the earth for a thousand years after he returns, the reader can safely
take his word at face value.